My Earrings

Earrings add something to any occasion. I love long, dangling earrings though I am trying to get more used to simpler designs. They can add movement to a look, or a splash of colour to your hair, or simply frame your face when you want your hair up.

I will occasionally sit down and make 20 pairs of earrings in a weekend, and rarely make a new necklace design without designing a matching set of earrings. Even a simple to make set can look incredibly detailed with the right beads. Here are some of the pairs I have made over the years, though as everyone knows earrings are as prone to running away as socks in the dryer.

Wire can be bent into fascinating shapes that need nothing more than a single elegant bead or two to elevate it to new heights. These earrings are all individually twisted and shaped, making each one unique with a sister earring, rather than a twin.

Attaching a simple chain, or two, or six to hang off earrings adds a fantastic amount of movement for very little effort - unless of course you hand make the chain as well. It can spice up where the peaks of bead colour appear, or dominate the design entirely.

Like any other form of jewelry I have to have my go at earrings out of my tiny seed beads. Somehow I have far less than I thought, though there are still some fantastic shapes that can be made out of seed beads and I hope to make more soon.

Simple dangle earrings only take minuets to make. If I need to match a dress quickly or just make some simple earrings to match a necklace these are easy to throw together and work whenever I need them.

The hoop equivalent to simple dangle earrings. Switch up the findings, and these go together as quickly as simple dangle earrings, but the shape change gives them a totally different feel. The only hard part in making these is I can only make so many before I have to buy more hoops.

Everyone loves playing with polymer clay once in a while, but I always have problems after in deciding what to do with the miniatures I create. Earrings are one solution I tend to turn to, as the simple forms can show off the detail in the clay colours.

When feather earrings were all the rage for a couple of years I figured I would have a try at making some of my own. I do seem to have lost most pairs - probably to cat toys - but they are simple to put together in any colours I can find feathers in, and are a nice summer earring.